Recent rains affected 3.1m

KARACHI: More than 3.1 million people have been affected during recent heavy rains in Sindh, said provincial minister for revenue, Jam Mehtab Hussain Dahar. In a media briefing on Sunday, he said 12000 villages with no less than 400, 000 were fully or partially damaged in the province. Eight districts including Ghotki, Sukkur, Khairpur, Kamber-Shahdatkot, Larkana and Jacobabad were inundated causing severe damage to agricultural land, he said.

Jam Mehtab mentioned that several villagers and thousands acres of land were still under flood water and that the government was trying hard to drain out this rain water. Additional generators and pumping stations were working day and night to facilitate the residents of the affected people, he said. Sindh Minister for Revenue said that tents, plastic sheets, mosquito nets, food packets and medicines have been provided to rain hit people while spray had also been conducted to avoid epidemic in the affected areas. Minister Jam Mehtab said that provincial government in collaboration with federal government was busy in helping the affected people.

“Despite our limited resources we would achieve our targets too,” he said. He said the present government is the government of the people and it will do whatever it can for the welfare of the masses.Reality of 1988 polls should also come before the people: Aijaz: Spokesman of Bilawal House, Aijaz Durrani, has said that after ‘thefts of votes’ in the 1990 general elections coming to the fore, the reality regarding the 1988 polls should also come before the masses.

In a statement issued here on Sunday, he said that when Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto returned in 1986 she was accorded historic welcome in Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta and every nook and corner of the country. Durrani said that according to political commentators the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) should have obtained 95 percent of National and Provincial Assemblies’ seats in the 1988 general elections. However, Aijaz Durrani alleged that under a conspiracy the mandate of the PPP was curtailed to a ‘limited one’. He was of the view that this aspect should also be probed and the reality be brought before the people.